In the more than six months since Savannah-Chatham police formed its youth program, it wasn't hard for officers to find the inspiration to lead youngsters on the right path.

But stories they've heard about the home lives some of those children experience make the work sometimes difficult.

Take the case of a 16-year-old boy who is a model student at Savannah High School, but keeps running away from home.

He does so because he's homosexual, and his mother won't accept it, said precinct youth officers Jeremy McKnight and Floyd Sawyer.

Proof of the hate the boy endured from his mom was clear in a voice-mail message she recently left him.

"She was calling him gay; 'I hope you catch AIDS and die,'" Sawyer said of the message. "She said, 'You turn gay fast but you die slow.'

"This is what Mom was saying."

Warming reception

The police precinct youth officer program was formed late last year with three officers and since has grown to one in each of the department's five precincts. The cold reception the five officers first received quickly has warmed.

Sawyer said he and the other officers regularly receive hugs and handshakes while walking school hallways.

"We constantly get that, and it's surprising," Sawyer said. "When you first meet them, it's, 'We don't want to deal with the folks and the police.'

"After you finish dealing with them, they have a different outlook."

Fielding reports

Metro police Sgt. Rob Gavin helped create the program.

"We're trying to track some of their accomplishments so we can show what's coming out of this program," he said. "There are a lot of different things they deal with."

For instance, McKnight's precinct recently enacted a right-to-search program, where parents give officers the right to search a child's room for things like weapons in exchange for the possibility of no charges being filed.

All of the reports for things like an unruly child - up to six a day - are turned over to the youth precinct officers. Rather than place sanctions against the child or allow a parent to rectify the issue, the precinct youth officers step in to investigate the root of the problem.

Researching those reports has led to the discovery of cases involving molestation and physical abuse, Gavin said.

He hopes to one day see the number of officers in the program double to 10.

Taking it home

McKnight recently handled a case where a 13-year-old girl kept running away from home. Some research into the girl's family life revealed her mother was never home, and the child felt neglected.

"I went and spoke to the mom, and the mom - thank goodness in hard economic times - found another job," McKnight said. "Her work schedule is different now where she can spend more time with the kids."

Sawyer recalled another case where a grandmother has custody of five children because their mother is a substance abuser. One of the children - a 15-year-old boy - had become more than she could handle. The officers made arrangements to pick up the child after school and drop him off at home every day.

"Grandma is real happy with it," Sawyer said.

As for the troubled 16-year-old at Savannah High, he has since been placed in protective custody. McKnight said he found the case after his mother filed an unruly child report because he kept sleeping at his aunt's house.

McKnight said he believes the mother refuses to let go of the teen because she receives money each month to raise him. McKnight is helping the teen's aunt in custody proceedings.

The mother painted the boy as a horrible child, but his performance in school and raving reviews from counselors spoke otherwise.

Then came the voice-mail message, he said.

"It was beyond me - I haven't heard anything like that since I was a police officer," he said. "It was horrible.